Oh What a July!

We are now back from the crazy month of vacations. It has been a wild trip, but a ton of fun. Sorry about the many photos, but it is the first time that I have had the chance to update. Enjoy!

Lake Powell

The Dad's and their kiddies amazing Lake Powell Castle
Ryan and his sexy talent
Grandpa Hansen with Eric and Tyler inside the Indian ruins up Forgotten Canyon
Tyler and Rylee loved the slip and slide that the men made on the beach

Mommy and her girl
All the kids loved the sand, and I especially love Eric's bandana

Eric and Shae having a blast on "bumper tubes"
This was the shot of the week, taken by Lindsey. Matt was driving the boat and had already sucessfully thrown me off two previous times. On this occasion, he had me out of the wake and was still turning quickly. This caused Ryan to swing over to my side, jump the wake, land on my right side completly flipping me over. It happened so quickly that I didn't even know I had done a flip in the air until I saw this photo and the video. My ears and head hurt for the rest of the day, but it was fun.

Birthday Party

This year we had a combinded birthday party for Eric and Tyler. We invited some of their friends and held an Olympic celebration. The kids got to design their own shirt for their "olympic uniform". Had a candy toss, frisbee throw, water race, and topped the activities off with some major slip and sliding. Of course they all got medals because they were all so cute.

Island Park

This week was tons of fun! We spent many hours on the four-wheelers chasing the boys, hours on the lake teaching them to waterski for the first time, and going on beautiful bike rides. Vacationing is definatly becoming more and more work, but it is so rewarding to watch my children find something that they love and get better and better at it. Here are a few highlights of our trip.

I got tagged again.

I've been Tagged...
4 Places I Visit Over and Over
1. Sandy, UT
2. Shelley, ID
3. Lake Powell
4. Island Park

4 People who call/text/email me regularly
1. Ryan
2. My Mommy
3. Jodi
4. Christa

4 Favorite Foods
1. Fresh Fish
2. Bread
3. Cheese
4. Chinese

4 Places I'd Rather Be
1. Hawaii
2. Fiji
3. Wisconsin
4. Anywhere with my hubby

4 Movies I'd Watch Over and Over
1. Gone with the Wind
2. The Notebook
3. Memoirs of a Geisha
4. Home videos of my kids

4 Bands/Groups I love to listen to
1. Faith Hill
2. Kenny Chesney
3. Tim McGraw
4. Keith Urban

4 People I'm Tagging
1. Carly
2. Erica
3. Lori
4. Shauna

Book Tag

#1 get the closest book: The Slight Edge
#2 find page 123
#3 find the 5th sentence "Become acutely aware of who you are modeling"
#5 tag 5 other people! Clarissa, Ashley P., Mom, Lindsay, Ivy

I just grabbed the first one that I saw on my bookshelf, but I like the fourth sentence on this page, so I am adding that also.

"If you consistently associate with negative people, it's highly unlikely you will succeed at having and maintaining a positive approach to your life."

How's that for a nugget.

Happy Birthday Tyler

So I know that this is a day late, but blogger wouldn't let me download my photos last night, so it had to wait.
Happy Birthday Tyler! Today you are five, and I can't believe that you are growing up so fast. I was thinking back to the day that you were born and how excited we were to have you join our family, and I am pretty sure that it was only yesterday. You have been such a joy to have around. Your laughter and smile are so contagious, that I just can't get enough of them. I love the way that you come up to me and "give me sugar". The spirit that you carry with you is so strong and sensitive, I can tell that you are going to be a huge influence for good. I am so proud of your accomplishments already, and I can't wait to see what else you have in store. Happy Birthday buddy. I love you.

Happy Birthday Eric

I can't believe that you are seven years old today. Every time that I look at you I am so grateful that I am your mother. I am amazed with your many talents. You are such a brillant boy, and such a wonderful big brother. You carry a huge spirit around with you and I know that you were sent to the Earth and to our family to accomplish great things. I am just awestruck that I get to call you mine. I love it when you want to come up and sit with me, one of my favorite things to do with you is to sit and make up stories on the couch. Your imagination never ceases to amaze me. I will love you forever and ever, and I hope that you know that. Happy Birthday my big seven year old!

Sunshine and Summertime

Oh the joys of being a kid in the summertime. Need I say more?

The Widowmaker

Last Friday morning the kids and I headed up to the mountains past Morgan to see their Daddy ride his motorbike. Ryan was competing in a motorbiking hill-climb. The purpose of this is to see who is the bravest and who can get their bike to the top of this mountain the fastest. The event is called the Widowmaker, and to be honest I wasn't real sure if I wanted him to do it based on this name. But I will have to say, when it came down to it, I had a great time watching my husband be tough and manly. He got two tries to make it up the hill and he did it! The hill was much steeper than the photos depict, and he made it up in 13 seconds. Honestly, it was quite sexy.

Singing Time

The last few Sundays have been a whirlwind of activity and I come home from church and lay on the floor and wonder what just happened. A few weeks ago I got a new calling. Goodbye Relief Society and Hello Primary. I am now the Primary Chorister, loving referred to by the children as the new music lady. This is a calling that had me a little nervous, but I was pretty excited also. I just had no idea how much time and effort it would take. It is very intense and a ton of preparation. I think that I have probably spent 30-40 hours on it already. I hope that it pays off and the children learn to love me.
Needless to say, church has now become somewhat of a marathon. Between wrestling Rylee in a church bench for an hour, during which my boys both want me to scratch their backs, or I am trying to take away the markers that have conveniently turned into "light-sabers". Then it is straight onto Primary where I have to sing for forty minutes straight, trying all the while to keep kids attention with many games or pictures. Then to the nursery where I get to sing to 15 small kids that just want to run around, with the exception of a few who lay on the floor. Then back to primary where we finish out closing exercises with a bunch of songs. A lot of which I am still learning myself. By the time that 4 pm comes, I am exhausted and all I want to do is take a nap.
Something that I have learned through all of this.... Never underestimate the intense preparation and time it takes to make something look easy.

The Definition of Love

So the last few days I have been thinking about what makes real lasting love. Is it the never ending display of affection, the gifts that show up on special occasions, the times when he listens to your crazy thoughts, the electricity that screams through your body when you realize he is yours? Or could it possibly also include being willing to do something most unpleasant?
Two days ago it was our anniversary and Ryan came home from work two hours earlier than he told me he would. He came home to help me clean the house for the babysitter so that he could take me away for the night. I was thrilled. A night with just him, and just for fun. We settled in the babysitter and went on our way to dinner. We had a nice private booth with a great waitress at a restaurant in Layton, called Corbin's Grille. Then we headed off to see a movie. After the movie he took me up to Huntsville to a small bed and breakfast at a historical home. It was all such a wonderful evening. Later on in the morning, around 5 am, I awoke to an awful stomach ache. I was very nauseated,cramping, and had a horrendous headache. I had been poisoned by the seafood I ate for dinner. (ps don't go to Corbins) We had to leave the hotel early so I could have a comfortable place to throw up. This sickness continued all day and ended up with me throwing up for the last time into the bathroom sink, which ended up clogging it.
This is where I found out that true love happens in the bathrooms. Ryan quietly came to my rescue and told me to go lie down and that he would take care of it. He cleaned up my puke and put me to bed. That my friends, is the definition of true love.

8 Years!

Well today marks year number eight with the best man in the world. I can't believe that I am so blessed to call Ryan my hubby. I saw this tag on my cousins blog and thought that it would fit perfectly today.

1. Where did you meet? The first time I saw Ryan was in the church foyer at my brother's welcome home. It was just like a movie, where everyone else gets real fuzzy except for "the one". (I know, way cheesy, but true)
2. What was the first thought that went through your head when you met? All I could think was, "I hope that he is one of Matt's friends and is coming over to our house!"
3. Do you remember what he was wearing? White dress shirt and khakis. Later he changed into some wranglers, and I must admit that I was caught way off guard. I remember a conversation that I had with Carly, where I told her that I would never date anyone who wore wranglers. I guess God has a sense of humor, and I will admit I think they are cute now.
4. Where was the first time you kissed this person? On the corner of the houseboat down at Lake Powell.
5. How did he ask you out? We were eight hours apart (me in Cedar and Ryan in Rexburg, so we only got to call each other.
6. Where did you go for your first date? Ryan drove down to Cedar to visit for the weekend, and we went out on a double with my brother. We built a campfire and roasted marshmellows, and of course snuggled and kissed.
7. How long did you know this person before you became a couple? It was pretty intense from the very first second (at least for me), but I don't think that it was very long for him either. The first time that we said the "M" word, was on my birthday.
8. Has this person ever proposed to you? I guess you could say that we proposed to each other. On October 10th, we were laying out on the tramp in Idaho, and I said, "Let's just get married and stop talking about it." So then we set a date. Later on in November he came down to my dance concert, and in front of the whole audience came up on the stage and proposed before my concert. It was elaborate and public, and perfect in every way. I have it on film and it was played repeatedly on the local college news station.
9. Do you and this person have kids together? Three wonderful beautiful children, all of which remind me of Ryan in there own separate ways.
10. Have you ever broken the law together? Not unless you count speeding.
11. When was the first time you realized you liked this person? Right away, but the moment I knew that I was going to marry him, was only the second day that I saw him. I was playing flag girl for him while he was water skiing, and I just heard a voice say, "You are going to marry him." It was so loud that I almost looked around to see who said it. I must say, I was taken quite by surprise.
12. Do you get along with this person ex's? I don't think that he has any.
13. What's the most expensive thing this person has given you? Rylee, she cost $39,000 in hospital bills before we could bring her home. (Good thing for insurance)
14. Where do you see each other in 15 years from now? Kids grown up, one still on a mission another in high school. Retired and playing every day, and living life to the fullest extent possible.
15. Wedding date? June 9, 2000
16. Wedding day memories? My whole life I wanted a garden reception, and the whole week prior to our wedding was nice, but it was supposed to rain on our day. I prayed and asked that if I had any blessings in store that they would come on our wedding day and it would be nice for our reception. While in the sealing room a major storm came through the city and there was lightning and thunder like crazy. The sealer said, "I hope you don't have an outside reception planned." I wanted to cry, but by the time we were sealed and out onto the temple grounds, the rain had stopped and it was overcast. (this was perfect for photos because the rain scared everyone away and no one was squinting) Later, at the reception the sky was blue and there was not a cloud in it. I guess I did have a few blessings in store and I was so thankful for them. The day was perfect, and everything was just how I always hoped and dreamed it would be. It was a perfect start to an incredible life with the man that I love.

I love you Ryan, and hope you know that you are the best thing that has ever happened to me.

Visit from Jodi

My amazing friend came for a visit last week. It was so good to see her, but it went entirely too fast. She surprised me one morning by jogging to my house from her grandmother's house in Ogden. We let the kids play on Tuesday and it was as if it hadn't been almost two years since they have seen each other. It is amazing how they can pick up right were they left off. Then the next day Jodi and I went to get pedicures together, then out to Cafe Rio. It was a joy to have her around for a moment, and I am looking forward to September when I get to go out and see her.

Eric's Exciting News!

So I thought that this was worthy of a seperate post. Eric has been accepted into the acelerated learning program at a new school for next year! Along with one other student from his class, he was recommended by his teacher to test for this program. 45-50 other kindergarten kids from the Ogden School District were also submitted to test for a classroom size of 22. Teachers and Parents had to submit evaluations on each child and Eric had to attend two days of testing at a different school with the other children. It was hard for me to wait for the results for so long, but I am so proud of him. It shows you how well he is doing because he is in the top 22 for his grade in all of the school district. Way to go Eric!!!!!!

Graduations!

We have been busy with programs and graduations for my boys. Tyler from preschool and Eric from Kindergarten. It was fun to watch them sing the songs that they had learned throughout the year. I can't believe that they are already this big!

My Friend Jodi

Once in a while Heavenly Father sends someone special in your life to touch it like no one else can. Someone who you have an instant connection with and know that you knew them before this life. Jodi is one of those friends to me. She is the perfect example of the kind of person that I want to be and yet she accepts me where I am at. Almost two years ago she moved away with her family, following a job to Wisconsin, and I still miss her fiercly.
The last few weeks have taught me that true friends stay true friends no matter where in the world they are. And that when you do find those kind of people that come into your life, you need to hold them close and make sure you thank Heavenly Father every day for the gift of friendship.
Thank you Jodi for being such a friend to me. You always lift my spirits.

Shoes and Stairs.....

So the last 24 hours have been interesting to see the new developements in my children that I have to now deal with. Last night Rylee figured out how to climb stairs, it only took about 3 minutes and she was off. For those first three minutes she would climb up and down the landing at the bottom and she must have gotten bored of that because the next thing that I knew, she was half way up. Well I promply grabbed her, which she then thought was a game, and as soon as I put her down she was up the stairs again. I need to now spend some time forcing her to go down the stairs backwards and not turn around and giggle, because I caught her doing that and had to stop her from falling.
Now to Tyler... Thinking that I needed my child to look presentable at school, I banned an old yucky pair of shoes to become "play shoes" and told him that he needed to wear the new ones to school and then he could change when he got home. What I didn't know is that a 4 year old can be kind of sneaky, and for the second time this morning I found his old shoes in his backpack so that he could change at school. One clue to look in his pack, was that he was trying to keep it away from me) Can pre-schoolers minds really work that way? Amazing, and to think what I am going to be dealing with later in life.......

Yea for Spinach!

So Christa told me that she learned a brilliant new idea to get your kids to eat spinach. Make a frozen berry shake and add handfuls of fresh spinach. I tried this for dinner tonight and my kids loved it. All I put in was milk, frozen blueberries and strawberries, ice, vanilla, and just a bit of sugar to sweeten. And I can't forget the three cups of spinach!!!! Even Ryan liked them! I guess I might have to make these daily to get fruit and some veggies into Eric.

Photogenic Kids

While in Phoenix, we took the kids to get their photos taken. These are a few of my favorites.